In 1992 the Richmond family dId a Simpson Desert crossing with Peter & Sam Bell, Jon & Di Mouser and their kids. On the 12th September we camped on the east side of Eyre Creek which is approx 50klm west of Birdsville. Here we celebrated Nick's 8th birthday. The Bell's gave him a much loved cap, and the Mouser's a "nug" shovel! Being so close we just had to revisit not just this site, but a holiday which gave so much love of outback Australia to both Nick & Tom, and a holiday still remembered as the best family trip.

A 22klm trip west on a corrugated gravel road brought us to Big Red, the largest of almost 1,100 Sandhills you must cross on your journey thru the Simpson . From the east Big Red is pretty tame and we had no problem crossing it. From there you follow a "shot-line", a track made years ago by a Seismic Survey. We still had about 25klm to cover and more than 20 sandhills to climb.

The day was just perfect, clear sky, light breeze, bloody hot at -41c but we really enjoyed our journey and did not rush it. We were passed by two blokes on KTM desert bikes who intended a full crossing, but for the next 3 hours travel and a long lunch stop we encountered nobody else...ah, the serenity. This is hard country, but there is a surreal softness about it due to the quietness and the rounded encompassing sand hills.

Eyre Creek is an oasis, a straight slash of green which disappears north and south as you look down on it from atop a last sand hill. This was our destination, and must say that it was very sad to think of Nick and Tom here during such a happy time, but as we sat and enjoyed a Cider and sandwiches, or was it Ciders and sandwich, we relaxed and talked about how lucky we were to have enjoyed many such adventures together and with our boys . The desert seems to be therapeutic and doesn't allow you to focus long on anything other than it's beauty, the flora and fauna. Thank you!

On the journey back to Big Red we pulled over a few times to allow a few groups of travellers heading towards the lure of a cold beer in Birdsville. They had been out here for over a week and were like horses on the way to feed.

Big Red! 21 years ago it took us three attempts to climb this trophy! Today there are three additional climbs all steeper and softer than the original. The most difficult had no wheel tracks on the top 20 metres due to wind blown really soft deep sand, so we opted for the next hardest...3 metres from the top the Patrol sank....twice. Sadly we hit the original track and climbed it all too quickly! Our desert day was over!

PS. We had thought to stay at, Eyre Creek, sleeping in swags, and we did take some food with! We mentioned this to Roscoe's sister, Cheronne, and when she heard we had wimped out she texted the "you pair really are nuts"! True!